The invention pertains to a sealing device for roll bearings with a neck seal, which is preceded on the roll barrel side by a ring seal, which is permanently connected to a ring-like extension of the bearing housing, the sealing lip of the ring seal resting with sealing contact against the end surface of the roll.
A sealing device of this type is known from, for example, DE 694 10 752 T2. During hard rolling operation, the ring seal shown here is continuously exposed to the coolant, which is laden with impurities, as a result of which the sealing lip has only a very short life-span. In addition, the opposing contact surface, that is, the end surface of the roll, is subjected to disproportionate wear by the impurities present in the coolant, so that this opposing contact side also has only a short life-span. The ring seals, furthermore, have openings in their lower area, which allow the impurity-laden coolant which has arrived in the labyrinth in the area behind the sealing lip and the opposing contact surface to run back out again from the labyrinth. Spray water originating from adjacent rolls can penetrate directly into this opening, at least in the area of the upper roll of a rolling stand, so that the neck seal situated behind it is exposed to a disproportionate amount of dirty coolant.